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Paco Rabanne

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Paco Rabanne
Rabanne in 2006
Born
Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo

(1934-02-18)18 February 1934
Pasaia,Spain
Died3 February 2023(2023-02-03)(aged 88)
Nationality
  • Spanish
  • French
Educationl'École Nationale des Beaux-Arts
OccupationFashion designer
Websitewww.pacorabanne.comEdit this at Wikidata

Francisco Rabaneda Cuervo(18 February 1934 – 3 February 2023), more commonly known under the pseudonym ofPaco Rabanne(French:[pakoʁaban];Spanish:[ˈpakoraˈβan]), was a Spanish[1]fashion designer.

Rabanne rose to prominence as anenfant terribleof the fashion world in the 1960s with his use of unconventional materials such as metal and plastic in his clothing, and for his incorporation of futuristic elements in his designs, gaining notoriety for hisspace-agestyle. He collaborated with a range of iconic fashion houses and designed costumes for films. Rabanne was also the recipient of several awards, including theLegion of Honour,which recognised his contributions to the arts and fashion.

In addition to his fashion work, Rabanne was known for his fragrances. He created a number of highly successful scents, including Paco Rabanne Pour Homme, 1 Million, and Lady Million.

Early life and education[edit]

Rabanne was born on 18 February 1934 in the Basque town ofPasaia,Gipuzkoa province.[2]His father, aRepublicanColonel, was executed byFrancoisttroops during theSpanish Civil War.[2]Rabanne's mother was a chief seamstress atCristóbal Balenciaga's first couture house inSan Sebastián,Basque Country, and in 1939 she moved Rabanne's family to France after he openedBalenciagain Paris.[2]In mid-1950s Paris, while studying architecture atl'École Nationale des Beaux-Arts,Rabanne earned money making fashion sketches forDiorandGivenchy,and shoe sketches forCharles Jourdan.He nevertheless subsequently took a job with France's foremost developer of reinforced concrete,Auguste Perret,working there for over ten years.[3]

Career[edit]

Fashion[edit]

1967 Rabanne metal and sequin swimsuit
1971 Rabanne metal mail outfit in a fashion show, Germany
Rabanne's 1 Million eau de toilette spray

He started his career in fashion by creating jewellery for Givenchy, Dior, and Balenciaga and founded his own fashion house in 1966.[4]He used unconventional material such as metal, paper, and plastic for hismetal coutureand outlandish and flamboyant designs.[5]For the debut of his namesake brand in 1966, he presented "Manifesto: 12 unwearable dresses in contemporary materials".[1]Although he didn't consider himself afuturist,Rabanne's most famous contribution to the fashion industry was arguably his futuristspace age designs.[6]People Magazinejournalist Hedy Philips noted that these space age designs "turned the fashion world upside down".[7]

Rabanne is known for designing the iconic green dress,[8]as well as the other costumes,[9]worn byJane Fondain the 1968science-fiction filmBarbarella.[10][11]The singer song-writerFrançoise Hardywas a big fan of Rabanne's designs.[12]ForTour 1996and the resultingLive à Bercyalbum, singerMylène Farmercommissioned Rabanne to create her live-concert stage costumes.[13][14]

In 1966, Rabanne was named one of the "fashion revolutionaries" in New York byWomen's Wear Daily,alongsideEdie Sedgwick,Tiger Morse,Pierre Cardin,Baby Jane Holzer,Rudi Gernreich,André Courrèges,Emanuel Ungaro,Yves Saint Laurent,andMary Quant.[15]

In November 2010, Rabanne was awarded the Legion of Honour by France's minister of culture,Frédéric Mitterrand.During the award ceremony, Mitterrand highlighted Rabanne's early work, particularly his first collection of "12 unwearable dresses".[16]

Fragrance[edit]

In 1968, Rabanne began collaborating with the fragrance[17]companyPuig,which resulted in the company marketing his perfumes.[18]In 1969, his first – and arguably most popular – scent, called Calandre, would be released.[7]In 1976, the company built a perfume factory inChartres,France.[19]In the 1980s, in Brazil, his men's perfume brand registration was forfeited due to a court judgement that the brand was never officially present in Brazil despite heavy advertising and a strong local awareness. The court reasoned that because Puig's local distributor was smuggling perfume into Brazil, the company could not show proof of payment of import duties. It took six or seven years to recover his brand name in Brazil.[20]In 1994, Rabanne first released his scent called XS.[21]The fragrance 1 Million, released in 2008, was the last scent that Rabanne played a role in developing[22]and is considered to be one of the most popular men's fragrances worldwide.[23]Lady Million, a fragrance recognisable by its distinctive golden bottles, also held a strong presence in the market as of 2023.[24]As of 28 June 2023, his first name Paco was dropped from the line, which is now known simply as Rabanne.[25]

Other interests[edit]

In 1994, Rabanne wrote the book,Has the Countdown Begun? Through Darkness to Enlightenment.[26]

In 2005, Rabanne opened the first exhibition of his drawings in Moscow, Russia. His reasoning for showing the drawings then was, "I am 72 years old, and I wanted to present my drawings this year before disappearing from this planet. I have not shown them to anyone exceptSalvador Dalí30 years ago, who told me to keep going. "One of theblack-and-whitesketches depicts a child letting go of adoveand a white balloon into the sky, which he said was inspired by the commemoration ceremony for the 2004Beslan attackinBeslan,North Ossetia, in which 319 hostages were killed, including 186 children, 12 servicemen, and 31 hostage-takers. Rabanne wanted the money that the drawing sold for to go to the women of Beslan.[27]

In 2006, Rabanne visitedKyiv,Ukraine. He summed up the changes since theOrange Revolution:"Ukraine reminds me of a flower unfolding its petals before my very eyes."[28]

In 2011Manish Arorawas named chief designer of Rabanne menswear. Then in 2012 he was replaced in that role by the German fashion designer Lydia Maurer .[29]In mid-2013, Belgian and former Balenciaga designer Julien Dossena was appointed creative director of womenswear at Paco Rabanne. Dossena's designs were subsequently praised by fashion critics.[30][31]The ateliers are located in Paris above the flagship store ofNina Ricci,another Puig fashion company, onAvenue Montaigne.In January 2016, a new store opened on Paris' Rue Cambon, following the closure of the remaining Paco Rabanne boutiques more than ten years earlier.[32]

A re-edit of his classic "le 69" bag was relaunched byComme des Garçons.[33][34]

Personal life and death[edit]

Rabanne gained notoriety for making eccentric public statements. He claimed he had lived several lives (including that of a prostitute in the time ofLouis XV), to have known Jesus in a previous life, to have seen God three times, to have been visited byextraterrestrials,to have murderedTutankhamun,[35]and to be 75,000 years old.[2][36]

In 1999, he announced that, at the age of seventeen, he had visions of Parisians in flames throwing themselves into theSeineand that after studying other concordant prophecies, he came to the conclusion that theMirspace station was going to crash in France at the time of thesolar eclipse of 11 August 1999,its debris causing thousands of deaths in Paris and in theGersregion.[37]On 10 May 1999, he publicly vowed not to make any more predictions if Mir did not crash into Paris on 11 August 1999.[38]However, he claimed to have had anapparitionof theVirgin Marytelling him to continue the predictions.[35]

Rabanne died at his home in Portsall,Ploudalmézeau,France, on 3 February 2023, aged 88.[2][39]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ab"storypacorabanne | Paco Rabanne".27 April 2020. Archived fromthe originalon 27 April 2020.Retrieved27 April2020.
  2. ^abcdeFriedman, Vanessa (3 February 2023)."Paco Rabanne, Couturier of the Space Age, Dies at 88".The New York Times.Retrieved3 February2023.
  3. ^"Paco Rabanne Fashion History".Heroine.Retrieved27 April2020.
  4. ^"Paco Rabanne: Retro Futurist Fashion".escamastudio.Retrieved27 April2020.
  5. ^"MFIT- Love and War- Paco Rabanne".3 September 2006. Archived fromthe originalon 3 September 2006.Retrieved27 April2020.
  6. ^Owoseje, Toyin; Siad, Amaud (3 February 2023)."Paco Rabanne, Spanish fashion designer known for his Space Age creations, dies at 88".CNN.Retrieved3 February2023.
  7. ^abPhilips, Hedy (3 February 2023)."Spanish Fashion Designer Paco Rabanne Dies at Age 88".People.Retrieved3 February2023.
  8. ^Walker, Harriet (12 October 2019)."How Julien Dossenna rebooted Paco Rabanne".The Times.Retrieved7 February2023.
  9. ^"Barbarella".Getty Images.Retrieved7 February2023.
  10. ^Leung, Yasmine (3 February 2023)."Who Owns Paco Rabanne Now? Visionary Designer Dies Aged 88".HITC.Retrieved3 February2023.
  11. ^Goodfellow, Melanie (3 February 2023)."Paco Rabanne Dies: Spanish 'Barbarella' Fashion Designer Was 88".Deadline Hollywood.Retrieved3 February2023.
  12. ^"Paco Rabanne, with Francoise Hardy, Salvador Dali and Amanda Lear in Paco Rabanne, In France, On May 19, 1968".Getty Images.Retrieved27 April2020.
  13. ^Lacroix, Marion Raynaud (3 October 2018)."tout ce que la mode doit à mylène farmer".Retrieved27 April2020.
  14. ^Woolnough, Damien."Paco Rabanne's third reinvention: Julien Dossena".ELLE.Retrieved27 April2020.
  15. ^"Revolution In Fashion Reaction In New York: These Were The Revolutionaries".Women’s Wear Daily.Vol. 112, no. 74. 14 April 1966. pp. 4–5.ProQuest1564944345.
  16. ^"Paco Rabanne Named Officer of Legion of Honor".Women's Wear Daily.17 November 2010.Retrieved6 February2023.
  17. ^"Paco Rabanne Pour Homme EAU de Toilette | Paco Rabanne".
  18. ^La Vanguardia, 9 October 2011, Supplement Diners, page 14
  19. ^"To be multinational in Spain costs a lot, because the domestic market is too small".La Vanguardia.Archived fromthe originalon 16 January 2014.Retrieved9 May2012.
  20. ^Chevalier, Michel (2012).Luxury Brand Management.Singapore: John Wiley & Sons.ISBN978-1-118-17176-9.
  21. ^Reichert, Tom (2010).The Erotic History of Advertising.Prometheus Books.ISBN978-1-61592-336-6.
  22. ^Horwell, Veronica (5 February 2023)."Paco Rabanne obituary".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved6 February2023.
  23. ^Krause, Grace Eliza Goodwin, Amanda."Paco Rabanne, the world-famous designer known for his fragrances, has died at 88".Insider.Retrieved6 February2023.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^"Paco Rabanne: Celebrated designer dies aged 88".BBC News.3 February 2023.Retrieved6 February2023.
  25. ^"Paco Rabanne Is Now Simply Rabanne".Fashionista.28 June 2023.Retrieved20 November2023.
  26. ^Has the Countdown Begun?: Through Darkness to Enlightenment(Reprint ed.). London: Souvenir Press Ltd. 12 May 1994.ISBN9780285631908.
  27. ^"French Designer Paco Rabanne Shows Drawings in Moscow".ARTINFO. 5 October 2005.Retrieved20 May2008.
  28. ^Olena Holub(2006).French couturiers travel to Ukraine in search of inspiration.day.kyiv.ua.
  29. ^"Fashion Shows: Fashion Week, Runway, Designer Collections".Vogue.Retrieved18 August2022.
  30. ^Lochanski, Tess (2 December 2015)."julien dossena führt paco rabanne zurück in die zukunft".i-D(in German).Retrieved18 August2022.
  31. ^Foreman, Katya (4 May 2012)."Paco Rabanne, Manish Arora Part Ways".Retrieved4 February2023.
  32. ^Magazine, Wallpaper* (25 February 2016)."Belgian firm OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen designs Paco Rabanne's new Paris boutique".Wallpaper*.Retrieved18 August2022.
  33. ^"Paco Rabanne for DSM Ladies' Bag".Dover Street Market.Retrieved27 April2020.
  34. ^"The Big Revamp".British Vogue.17 January 2011.Retrieved27 April2020.
  35. ^ab"Paco Rabanne: l'hyperview de Thierry Ardisson | Archive INA".Retrieved4 February2023– via YouTube.
  36. ^Le Libre Journal deSerge de Beketch,broadcastonRadio Courtoisieon 10 November 1993.
  37. ^"Les «prédictions» de Paco Rabanne fort mal perçues dans le Gers".ladepeche.fr.Retrieved4 February2023.
  38. ^"Paco Rabanne à propos du grand incendie à Paris | INA".Retrieved4 February2023– via ina.fr.
  39. ^"Paco Rabanne: Celebrated designer dies aged 88".BBC News.3 February 2023.Retrieved3 February2023.

External links[edit]